Blogs

A message from 2023® CRAN Chair, Warren Lloyd, AIA

By Alison Karfeld posted 3 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
As architects, the demands, and constraints of our practices, even as we all repeat the ‘live/work balance mantra’ to our co-workers, colleagues, and families, mean that we have limited opportunities to gather, be proximate, be in the moment, and genuinely connect and share with each other. Within those constraints, however, in 2023, the AIA Custom Residential Architects Network (CRAN®) shared many powerful moments that illustrate meaningful connections this past year. In June, we gathered in San Francisco at the A23’ Conference on Architecture for the AIA CRAN Forum, where our CRAN community shared in “The Arc of Practice - from Startup to Transition,” organized ...
0 comments

RUDC 2023 Symposium Tour and Conference Day Snapshots

By Alison Karfeld posted 19 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
We are happy to share a few snapshots from the Symposium, held in Washington, DC, including expert-led tours and conference day. Thank you, AIADC and all of our amazing partners and sponsors.
0 comments

Equity by Design Fall Panel Series: DEI into Action

By Alison Karfeld posted 20 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
AIA RUDC will bring four virtual panels with continuing education learning units in 2023. Join us for our series exploring and defining equity and social impact in the communities we study, engage, and design to develop professional practice The fourth and final panel, “DEI into Action,” will be held on November 16th at 1- 2:30pm ET. The session will feature insights from Yiselle Santos Rivera, AIA, NOMA; Wandile Mthiyane, NOMA; Tiara Hughes, NOMA; and Bryan C. Lee, NOMA. Interested in attending the live session? Register directly on AIAU, which you may also access through RUDC KnowledgeNet and LinkedIn pages . Yiselle Santos Rivera, ...
0 comments

AIA Practice Management Digest - November 2023

By Rebecca W. Edmunds AIA posted 27 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
HR in practice The rules for attracting, retaining, managing and mentoring staff keep changing--a factor exacerbated by a talent shortage. This issue shares insights from leaders across the profession. Letter from the editor By Rebecca W.E. Edmunds, AIA, NOMA Who knew that when we emerged from the major events of 2020—the pandemic, the rise of Black Lives Matter, and a reckoning with the demographics of our profession—that the norms of practice operations would be forever altered. Hats off to any of you who saw all these changes coming at once! Some of us felt they were long overdue. As one of those architects with a previous degree ...
0 comments

Developing women leaders by building greater workplace flexibility

By Evelyn M. Lee FAIA posted 27 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
By Evelyn Lee, FAIA Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion from AIA Houston's WIA Equity Series Re|Define. The panel featured mid-career women in practice and other areas, talking about how they defined success and, in large part, how to break down the barriers that have made it so difficult for us to pave a better way forward for women in practice. What was particularly interesting is that we all defined our success under a common theme: flexibility within the workplace. Or, more specifically, success was defined as the ability to create our own schedule and focus on what we are most passionate ...
0 comments

The student experience // AIAS Speaks

By Rebecca W. Edmunds AIA posted 27 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
Julia Andor, AIAS, NOMA, Assoc. AIA (she/her), 67th National Vice President 2023-2024 and Nicole Bass, AIAS, NOMA, Assoc. AIA (she/her), 66th National Vice President 2022-2023 Young people are entering the field of architecture for countless reasons, and there are also many reasons why they may decide to stay in or leave the profession. Let’s explore the expectations and realities that students face as they graduate and go into the workforce. From our experience as the current and past National Vice Presidents of the AIAS, the most prominent motivator to study architecture comes from a creative spirit and an ambition to solve problems in unconventional ...
0 comments

HR policy trends

By Rebecca W. Edmunds AIA posted 27 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
By Hannah Brown, SHRM-SCP, Brown Creative Consulting LLC In 2020 Policy in HR was thrown, like most other things, into a reactionary mode with many architecture and interiors firms forced to figure out work from home. Most had never considered remote work as feasible. The combination of physical and mental isolation was taxing and work meetings often become our sole source of socialization leading employers to also become focused on health. Our industry pulled together to make remote work a reality, often looking to employers outside the AEC industry that already embraced remote work with policies in place to reimburse employees for expenses related ...
0 comments

A look at work culture

By Rebecca W. Edmunds AIA posted 27 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
By Iva Kravitz, Assoc. AIA Full disclosure: I’m not an architect, but I’ve spent my career doing strategy, communications and marketing for architects and designers. As a consultant to the profession for 30 years, I have an inside-outside view of the strong and intangible role of culture in work life. I’ve seen small firms thrive with strong culture and happy employees, and large firms succeed despite terrible leadership. Here are a few notes as well as my own observations. Culture basics A lecture I once attended made the excellent point that corporate culture is not “getting together for beers after work once a week”. Rather, ...
0 comments

Creating systematic programs to strategically develop aspiring architects within our firms

By Matthew E. Szymanski AIA posted 27 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
By Matthew Szymanski, AIA, Owner, Architect | Arx Design Co. Traditionally, aspiring architects learned by apprenticing with experienced team members and watching how they: design, communicate, and make decisions. The AXP program approximates this model, but mentors must purposely supplement lessons of professionalism, business development, and emotional intelligence if well-rounded future leaders are the desired result. Today's managers face significant time constraints when trying to provide the consistent guidance necessary to develop new team members. In addition, new remote working arrangements and increasingly flexible/varied schedules result ...
0 comments

November/December Advocacy Update

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-31-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
By Arathi Gowda, AIA There is a lot going on this season in the advocacy realm. Heading into the cooler months of fall and winter, let’s put on our sweaters and consider how extra time indoors can be used to advance our advocacy efforts! Members of the COTE network and allied committees of Government Affairs Committee (GAC) and the Committee on Climate Action and Design Excellence (CCADE) have continued to advance our agenda in the last several months. At the end of September, a group of 40 Architecture, General Contractor, and Engineering Firms representing 400 million square feet of projects annually wrote a letter ...
0 comments

Partner Content: Merge Forward: Milliken’s New Red List Free Collection

By Kira L. Gould Hon. AIA posted 10-25-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
PARTNER CONTENT By Sarah Enaharo At Milliken, our people come to work every day with a bold purpose: To positively impact the world around us for generations to come. We fulfill that purpose via curious minds creating inspired solutions. That means we start by asking, “What does the world need?” And it’s clear the world needs a lot. Our planet needs healing, our people need belonging, and our communities need action. We stand FOR HUMANKIND in every action we take and every decision we make. For us, that starts by demonstrating leadership in our products. The concept of modern luxury is defined by experiences, not things. Luxury is ...
0 comments

Letter from the Chair -- November/December 2023

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-24-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
Dear COTE Community, As we near the end of COTE’s 2023 activities we reflect on the work we have done this year and the volunteers who have given so much of themselves to further COTE’s priorities to elevate exemplars, engage the next generation, provide a hub for the COTE Network, and empower all members to achieve climate action and climate justice through design. We advanced the COTE Top Ten Awards to streamline requirements and focus on outcomes; we advanced the criteria for equitable communities by asking teams to consider and improve their impact on equity at the local, regional, and global scale; we brough the community together ...
0 comments

BOOK REVIEW:  The Regenerative Materials Movement: Dispatches from Practitioners, Researchers, and Advocates (Ecotone/ILFI, 2023)

By Katie L. Kangas AIA posted 10-23-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
Getting Better on the Path to Regenerative BOOK REVIEW: The Regenerative Materials Movement: Dispatches from Practitioners, Researchers, and Advocates (Ecotone/ILFI, 2023) compiled and edited by The International Living Future Institute By Katie Kangas, AIA Building materials surround us. They represent jobs in procuring and refining materials. They reflect the design intent of architects and interior designers. They are a line item on the budget sheets of contractors. They embody the energy and substances used to produce and move them to the site. And when done well – these building materials are inherited by the next generation of building ...
0 comments

AIA Federal Relations and Advocacy Report

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-18-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
A top policy priority for the preservation community is reauthorizing the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). In recent AIA HRC monthly meetings and Specs on the Union updates (next and final of 2023 will occur Nov. 1), AIA Federal Relations staff have informed the knowledge community of the need to reauthorize the HPF before its September 30 expiration. AIA supports legislation, which remains without a Senate companion, that will increase the authorized amount of funding for the HPF and extend its authorization for ten years – fundamental updates for this well-established and successful program. The AIA Federal Relations team is continuing to work diligently with ...
0 comments

Peterson Prize Winners

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-17-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
HDP Announces Peterson Prize Winners The Heritage Documentation Programs (Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record / Historic American Landscapes Survey), a division of the National Park Service, is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Charles E. Peterson Prize Competition. A student competition of measured drawings, the Charles E. Peterson Prize is presented jointly by HDP, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, the American Institute of Architects, and the Association for Preservation Technology. The annual competition, currently in its 40th year, honors Charles E. Peterson, FAIA (1906-2004), a founder of ...
0 comments

PastForward 2023 Conference

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-17-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
PastForward 2023 will take place November 8-10, 2023, in Washington, DC. Come celebrate the power of place and join fellow preservationists and preservation lovers at the nation’s premier conference for those who work to save, sustain, and interpret historic places. At PastForward 2023, attendees will be empowered with effective tools and inspiring perspectives. PastForward itself is a community, a powerful network of preservationists and allies that we strengthen when we gather, celebrate, and learn together. Connecting with a broad, diverse range of colleagues from across the country, PastForward 2023 attendees will come together in our nation’s ...
0 comments

RUDC panels, October 24 and November 16

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-17-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
Interested in attending the free live session? Register here . Should you wish to attend this session (also free!), we welcome you to register here .
0 comments

Next Gen: We Need YOU for the Top Ten for Students Competition

By Kira L. Gould Hon. AIA posted 10-16-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
Looking for ways to share your time and talent to maximize impact on the next generation of designers? You can help the COTE Top Ten for Students. Each year, the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE®), in partnership with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), co-sponsors the COTE Top Ten for Students Competition, a student competition challenging students to “use a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems, and technology to provide architectural solutions that protect and enhance the environment.” https://www.aia.org/awards/7291-aia-cote-top-ten-for-students ...
0 comments

The Lance Hosey Scholarship Fund to Make Things Better

By Kira L. Gould Hon. AIA posted 10-16-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
Two years ago, architect and author Lance Hosey, FAIA, died unexpectedly, leaving a gap in the design community. But his legacy -- a rich dialogue created through his public voice and books (especially The Shape of Green, publshed by Island Press in 2012 ) and his work in the AEC industry -- is still growing. Lance was also a COTE community member and COTE leader. He led the creation of two important COTE reports, The Habits of High Performing Firms and Lessons from the Leading Edge , he helped bring clarity and coherence to the Top Ten measures at a critical juncture, and he co-authored (with me) a report called Ecological Literacy in Architecture ...
0 comments